


The Art of Being Subtle

by beesinu



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: 5+1 Things, Established Relationship, Hinata Shoyou is Sunshine, M/M, Secret Relationship, at least they think they’re being secretive, they’re both messes, they’re not very good at hiding things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:20:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24196573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beesinu/pseuds/beesinu
Summary: Kageyama and Hinata finally get into a relationship on their own terms and figure that it’s best to keep it to themselves for now. It turns out their lack of subtlety bites them in the ass.or, alternatively titled, five times Kageyama and Hinata think they’re being sneaky and the one time they come clean.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio
Comments: 5
Kudos: 343





	The Art of Being Subtle

**Author's Note:**

> strap in, i think this is my longest one yet

Hinata’s not really sure why they’re doing this in the first place.

Yeah, it’s nice to keep things to themselves sometimes, but it’s killing him not to be able to at least hold Kageyama’s hand in public.

He could probably get away with it. Seriously, he’s touchy with everyone, wouldn’t it be easy to just play it off?

This was the first downfall.

Kageyama and Hinata trailed behind the rest of the team for their after practice meat bun ritual, and the redhead took it as his opportunity to finally feed the neediness festering inside of him.

Slowly, he reaches for Kageyama’s hand that was dangling beside him, subtlety touching his pinkie with his own.

Blue eyes snap down to brown, “What do you think you’re doing?” The ravenette glares, pulling his hand away from Hinata’s.

Heat floods Hinata’s cheeks, “I’m trying to hold your hand.” He mutters, biting the bottom of his lip nervously.

“You can’t do that.” Kageyama hisses in a whisper, his blush rising to match Hinata’s. “What if they see?” He vaguely gestures to their group of friends walking ahead of them with his head, who were in fact, paying no mind to them at all.

Hinata whines a little, “We’re walking behind them,” he reminds Kageyama who had now shoved his hand in his pocket to put a barrier between them, “they won’t even notice.” 

His patience starts running thin when Kageyama still refused to give him an answer. “Please?” He pouts, giving the best puppy dog eyes he could muster.

Kageyama glares at the concrete they’re walking on before sighing and inevitably giving in, “Fine.” He mutters through clenched teeth, and grabbing Hinata’s hand.

Hinata’s insides flip and dance in victory, feeling Kageyama completely engulfing his tiny hand was all that he needed right now.

Continuing to trail behind the group, absentmindedly, Kageyama starts to rub Hinata’s hand soothingly with his thumb. The action sets the redhead’s face ablaze.

Kageyama, of course, didn’t let it go unnoticed. He smirked at Hinata when their eyes met, coaxing a childish reaction out of Hinata who stuck out his tongue. 

“Hinata, Kageyama! How many meat buns do you want this time?” Nishinoya whipped around to face his kouhai’s just in time to see them mid-ripping their hands away from each other as if they’d just been set fire to.

Hinata prayed to any God or anything above that Nishinoya hadn’t caught them holding hands so he wouldn’t have to deal with Kageyama chewing into him about it later.

Nishinoya cocks a brow at the both of them who now had their hands shoved in their pockets and were standing a fair distance away from each other, cheeks redder than tomatoes. 

”W-What was the question?” Hinata squeaks, letting a strained chuckle leave his lips. “Uh...how many meat buns do you guys want?” Nishinoya asks again slower, his eyebrow still cocked at their behaviour.

”Oh!” Hinata smiles like he knew that was the question before he asked, “I’ll take two!” He dares to look over at Kageyama for his response. He wasn’t surprised when he saw Kageyama basically sputtering to come up with an answer.

Hinata decides to take pity on him since it was his fault Kageyama had no current functioning brain cells (like he had any in the first place), “He’ll take two, too.” He answers for the mess of a boy to which Kageyama nodded in confirmation.

Nishinoya gives them a thumbs up and a wink before turning around and rushing to catch up with the others.

That call was too close for comfort.

* * *

”Good work today, boys!” Coach Ukai claps his hands together with a proud smile on his face. Practice was over for today and everyone in the room felt a bit of relief knowing they wouldn’t be staying any later.

”Everyone clean up and then you’re free to go home.” The team gives each their own confirmation before they get to work.

Kageyama and Hinata, being Kageyama and Hinata, of course race to grab the brooms which morphed into a race to see who could clean the floor faster.

Daichi shakes his head with a sigh of disappointment, watching them bicker from the corner of his eye while he helps Sugawara take down the net.

”Do you think they’ll ever stop bickering?” He asks with a groan to which Sugawara laughs before answering, “It’d be a cold day in Hell if that ever happens.”

Breathless and heaving, Hinata and Kageyama sprint back into the equipment room, finishing their sweep in record time. “Ha!” Hinata cheers after finally catching his breath, “I won this time.” Kageyama’s head whips up from his crouched position to give Hinata a sour look.

“No way, dumbass!” He protested, standing up and putting their brooms back in their respected spots before towering himself over Hinata. “I won,” He demands childishly and the redhead tries to deny before he’s cut off, “and since I won, I want a prize.”

Hinata groans little but decides to play along, this could only end badly. “What would that be?” He huffs, watching the shit eating grin grow on his boyfriend’s face. “Hmm,” Kageyama teases, tapping a finger to his chin. “Maybe a kiss?” He smirks down at Hinata, stepping more into his space.

Hinata bites the inside of his cheek, trying to fight the blush rising. “That’s not a good idea.” He chokes out. Even though he would very much like to kiss Kageyama right now, his whole team was one door away and he wasn’t about to get caught.

Kageyama starts to slither his arms around his waist. Okay, so he wouldn’t be taking no for an answer. “Oh c’mon,” His voice dips an octave, causing Hinata to shiver a little. “Just a quick one.” Hinata knew that was a lie, but he couldn’t stop the tremor of his heart.

”I let you hold my hand,” Kageyama starts with a shrug, “so let me have a little kiss.” Hinata sighs, letting himself wrap his arms around Kageyama’s neck.

”Those are two very different things, Bakageyama.” Hinata murmurs, his cheeks now a deep red. “What if someone comes in?” He glances over at the equipment room door only for his head to be forced back by a large hand.

“I’m confident we can get away with one little kiss.” Kageyama’s eyes flicker from Hinata’s lips to his eyes to see him roll them.

“Knowing you, it’s not going to be.” Kageyama takes that as his opportunity and plants his lips onto Hinata’s to stop the banter.

Hinata was right, it wasn’t one little kiss. 

Kageyama held onto the small of Hinata’s back with some force, slowly starting to slip his fingers up his practice shirt.

Hinata knows Kageyama felt his breath hitch at the action, he could feel the smile on his lips, that bastard.

Not backing down from the challenge, Hinata threads his fingers into Kageyama’s silky black locks, basically trapping him against his lips. If Kageyama wanted to kiss, oh man were they going to kiss.

Kageyama, also not willing to back down from the challenge, takes advantage of the situation. He tilts his head to the side, not only to deepen the kiss but make everything more comfortable. When their faces fit like puzzle pieces, wow, everything was so much better. Where did Kageyama learn to kiss like that? 

They broke away momentarily to catch their breaths and only after a few pants, Kageyama starts to attack Hinata’s lips again. Planting short lived kisses onto his mouth, not satisfied with the result just yet.

“Kageyama...” Hinata whispers in between the kisses, “we should stop.” He didn’t _want_ to stop, God, in _no way_ did he want to stop, but the risk of getting caught in this compromising position was too high.

His plea falls on deaf ears, Kageyama starting to trail his kisses from the mouth to Hinata’s neck. This wasn’t good, Kageyama needed to— Hinata’s knees buckle when he feels teeth scrape against his throat and all of his common sense is thrown out the window.

He willingly let’s Kageyama get away with it, lost in the feeling of lips and a buzz in his cheeks.

It doesn’t last when Hinata hears the click of the door and some voices, and he pushes Kageyama off of him and into the basket of volleyballs in a panic.

Sugawara and Daichi stand in the doorway with the net and the poles in their hands, carefully scanning the situation.

They don’t know if they should be surprised or not when they see Kageyama with a pile of knocked over volleyballs and Hinata looking away like he had just been caught sneaking cookies from the cookie jar.

Hinata just about crumbles under the pressure of Suga and Daichi’s stares and almost disintegrate from the wicked glare he’s getting from Kageyama.

Daichi sighs, moving the net into one arm so he can pinch the bridge of his nose. “Don’t tell me you guys were fighting.” He sounds strained and tired but Hinata couldn’t be more relieved that Daichi thought they were fighting and not just making out in the equipment room.

Hinata rubs the back of his neck, playing along with the assumption. “Sorry, Daichi-san.” He mutters, looking at the ground, “I pushed him a little too hard.”

Daichi sighs for what seems like the umpteenth time that day while putting the net away and helping Suga with the poles.

“You both have ten minutes to clean up that mess and get out of here, or else you’re both running extra laps next practice.”

Those were the fastest ten minutes of Hinata’s life.

* * *

The blaring alarm in his ear is what wakes Hinata up from his drooling slumber. “I’m up!” He announces to the air when he shoots up from the bed in all of his slobbering glory.

His eyes adjust to the sunlight in the room and he reaches for his phone to shut off his alarm with a groan. 

There was a pounding in his head from the lack of sleep and forcing himself up that morning. It was his fault though, he stayed at Kageyama’s that evening longer than intended.

Hinata kicks his feet over the bed, groggily stumbling to the bathroom to start his morning officially.

He flicks on the bathroom light and does his business then makes his way over to the sink to wash his hands and brush his teeth quickly. When he’s finished, he reaches for his hair brush to try and at least make the nest of orange on his head look presentable.

What he didn’t expect to see in his reflection first thing in the morning was the angry purplish mark prominent on his neck that was practically screaming _“I’m here! I’m here!”_

Hinata’s eyes blow wide and he doesn’t want to believe what he’s seeing. He rubs his eyes harshly and does a double take, maybe it’s a hallucination?

He goes to try and wipe it off and—okay, definitely not a hallucination. This is real. The _hickey_ on his neck is _very_ real.

”Oh my God.” Hinata whispers to himself, hands pulling at the collar of his shirt while he stared at the hickey. He toldKageyama not to leave any marks, but he should have known better when he couldn’t get his vacuum of a boyfriend off of his neck.   
  
Their time in the equipment room probably fueled that flame and that’s why he was left with a patronizing gift.

How was he going to cover it? He could wear a scarf? No, it was warm these days and it broke school dress code.

Maybe button up his uniform shirt all the way? Nah, not that either. Too uncomfortable. 

All of the ideas were flying in and out of his brain until he thought of something that just clicked. 

Hinata swings open his medicine cabinet to grab a bag, digging through it to find what he needed and...a-ha! 

His mother’s foundation.

Now; he wasn’t very experienced in the makeup department, but desperate times call for desperate measures and he’s already battling the clock to even get to school on time. 

He pumps some of the liquid onto his fingers before he lathers a hearty amount on the reddish hickey, getting rid of it completely. 

Hinata returns the bag to it’s place and admires his work in the mirror, basking in how well he covered it up. It didn’t _exactly_ match his skin tone, but it would do the trick for as long as he needed.

Well, it _should_ have done the trick if he wasn’t surrounded by nosy teammates.

The school day felt short, it seemed like it only lasted three hours because Hinata was already walking into the changing room to get ready for club activites, being greeted by Tanaka and Nishinoya who were already in there.

He greets them enthusiastically before placing his bag down, grabbing out his practice clothes. When he pulls his uniform shirt off he can feel eyes drilling into him.

From the corner of his eyes he can see that it was Tanaka eyeing him. Hinata gulps when his senpai starts stalking toward him, “What’s up, Tanaka-san?” He doesn’t get an answer right away. What he gets instead are those intimidating eyes scanning him while Tanaka rubs his chin.

Hinata almost tries to slip away before he finally gets his answer. “You’ve got some dirt on your neck.” Before Hinata can even reply, Tanaka goes and starts to rub the foundation off. 

The redhead squeaks and jumps away in a panic which only raises suspicion from both Tanaka and Nishinoya. “I-It’s not dirt!” He stutters out, backing away as far as possible.

“What is it then?” It’s Nishinoya’s turn now to corner Hinata and try and pry away the hands that are clamped to his neck so he can get a look.

”It’s nothing!” Hinata tries to reassure and he can feel his grip giving out from having them both trying to pull his hands away. He let’s out one more cry of weakness before giving up, giving a full display of the embarrassment on his neck.

”Is that—“

”A hickey?”

Hinata immediately shakes his head and starts to come up with an elaborate story, “No! Of course not!” He laughs dryly, fighting the flush to stay off of his face. “Natsu and I were messing around and things got a little out of hand is all,” He waves his slack jawed friends off like it was nothing, picking up his white tee and putting it on.

”She just punched me in the neck.” Hinata finishes out his lie strong, “No biggie.” The silence in the room starts to eat away at Hinata until it’s quickly filled by laughter.

”Isn’t she like,” Nishinoya wheezes our between laughs, “Nine?” Hinata can’t fight the blush off of his cheeks this time. It was humiliating enough that they had both just seen what really was a hickey on his neck but also now piling on the fact that he had to play it off like he was just beaten up by his nine year old little sister.

”Hey!” Hinata wines, “Stop laughing!” He huffs when the laughs grow louder, drowning out his protests. He quickly throws on his shorts and stomps his way to the gym.

He can’t look anybody in the eye for the whole practice.  
  


* * *

After Hinata’s embarrassing escapade and much discussion, they decide to lay off of the touching.

Nothing good _ever_ came from it and Hinata also decided he’s had enough of being on the receiving end of the teasing and having to cover for them all the time.

It was effective at first but now Kageyama was going through some affection withdrawal (God, he sounded like a drug addict).

From an outside perspective, it would seem as if Kageyama would be more reserved and not really cuddly or touchy in relationships. But man, they couldn’t be more wrong.

So, due to the lack of touching, Kageyama started getting distracted during practice. 

They were in the middle of playing a six on six match against each other and he just couldn’t keep it together.

His tosses were off and he was making simple mistakes, all because he couldn’t keep his eyes off of the flexing muscles in Hinata’s legs, those thick and strong thighs and not to mention his—

A ball comes hurdling from the opposing team and smacks him right in the face, hard. ” _Ffff—_ “ Kageyama sucks in a sharp breath the keep the swear from slipping out of his lips, pinching the bridge of his nose with tightly shut eyes.

He hears a chorus of his name and all he can manage is a groan in response. When he decides to open his eyes; everything is blurry, but the red on the floor is very prominent. Fantastic, he’s bleeding.

Kageyama feels a hand on his shoulder and his eyes focus on Kiyoko who is standing in front of him, a concerned expression on her features and a tissue in hand. He takes it with a grateful “Thank you.” and allows Kiyoko to lead him to the bench.

He let’s Kiyoko asses the damage to his face with zero protest and his attention starts to drift back to Hinata. He catches the concerned look he’s given before Hinata indulges himself back into the game as instructed, giving Kageyama a clear view of what had distracted him in the first place.

”Tsukishima should be coming back with ice, will you be okay until then?” Kiyoko’s soothing voice breaks the trance, Kageyama nods hesitantly watching her leave to go back to Yachi.

Kageyama uses all the willpower he has not to stare holes into Hinata’s back again. Sure, he needed a distraction from the pain pinching his nose, but he also couldn’t risk being obvious about it.

Maybe if he was careful, he could get away with it. He curses to himself quietly before giving into his selfish desires, looking at Hinata once again.

His timing couldn’t be more perfect, catching Hinata wiping the sweat off of his forehead with the bottom of his shirt, revealing his torso a bit. He wasn’t exactly bulky and built, but it was enough to leave Kageyama feeling winded.

”You look like you want to jump him.” 

Kageyama nearly jumps out of his skin, tearing his eyes away from Hinata up to the voice. “Shut up.” He hisses, snatching the ice of of Tsukishima’s hand to rest on his nose, “I do not.”

Tsukishima shrugs and flashes him a condescending smirk, waltzing back onto the court to finish the game.

* * *

It’s been a little over a week now chopping down their physical contact and Hinata starts to feel it too.

He misses the little touches. The brush of an arm, large hands patting his hair when he does a good job, hell, he even misses a simple fist bump.

He know’s it’s his fault he’s feeling this way. He enforced the little rule and now he wanted to break it and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to do it now.

They were returning home from a practice match at Nekoma, so everyone was already sleeping from the exhaustion and the long drive. Hinata stands up from beside the sleeping Kageyama to make sure his teammates were really all sleeping before he went in for the kill.

When the coast was officially clear, he plops back down into his seat and starts to shake Kageyama awake. “Kageyama.” He whispers loudly, shaking his boyfriend with vigour. Surprisingly, it didn’t take too many attempts. Kageyama starts to stir awake, groaning from being woken up so suddenly.

”What do you want, Hinata?” Kageyama’s voice is deep and husky and Hinata tries everything in his power not to blush profusely. He takes a deep breath before asking the question, “Can we cuddle?”

Kageyama quirks a brow at Hinata who was now looking away, the embarrassment creeping up his body. “You want to cuddle?” The ravenette asks, the amusement clearly heard in his voice and a teasing smirk was on his face. Hinata scowls at him for that alone.

”I miss it.” Hinata murmurs, deciding not to argue. “I miss the little things,” He looks up into Kageyama’s deep blues and finishes, “I miss _you._ ”   
  
When he’s done it looks like Kageyama’s face had been set fire to and he’s covering his face with his hands. “D-don’t say such embarrassing things, dumbass!” Kageyama hisses out. “It was your idea that we did this.” He mutters, looking at Hinata through the cracks of his fingers and, oh no;

He’s wearing the softest expression in the world and Kageyama’s insides start dying and his self-restraint is breaking down. Hinata can tell that his plan to get Kageyama to break is working, so he goes for the jugular.

”Can we please?” Hinata musters his biggest puppy dog eyes he can manage (and he knows it’s Kageyama’s weakness since he’s used it before) and Kageyama starts to sink in his seat. That blinding sun is going to be the death of him, he can feel it.

”G-Get over here, stupid.” Kageyama crumbles and his pride is taking a hit. he’s so whipped for Hinata, he can’t help it at this point. 

Hinata smiles brightly before throwing himself at his boyfriend, snuggling into his side comfortably. Ah, this was what he was missing. The warmth of somebody else and secure arms wrapped around him.

”You are a menace to society.” Kageyama whispers spitefully and all Hinata can do is laugh and stick out his tongue at him.

With the extra heat emitting from both bodies, the two of them fall asleep in no time comfortably slumped together.

They’re so deep in sleep they have a rude awakening by the rest of the team. “Wake up sleepyheads!” It’s Nishinoya shouting in Hinata’s ear and he shoots up in fear, “Nishinoya-san!” He whines, clutching his ear who now has a blown eardrum.

That wasn’t even the worst of it, the worst of it was that the rest of the team had most definitely seen them cuddling.

Nobody says anything about it though, they just keep the pictures they took for blackmailing purposes under wraps.

* * *

”Are you sure you want to do this?” Kageyama asks Hinata, looking down at him.   
  
The two of them stood in front of the gym doors, hand in hand, ready to go in there and announce that they were dating. 

”We don’t have to—“ Hinata cuts Kageyama off, “Yes we do!” He insists, pulling on Kageyama’s arm a little. “I’m tired of sneaking around, it’s getting frustrating.” And it was. It was nearly impossible to come up with new ways to cover their asses.

Kageyama sighs, “Fine. Let’s do this.” They both take a deep breath before pushing the metal doors of the gym open, proudly stepping in with their interlocked hands on full display. 

The team turns around when they hear the metal of the door squeak open. A few stop immediately and others do double takes, not really sure if what they’re seeing was a reality.

But it was, Kageyama and Hinata were really standing there hand in hand sweating under the pressure of the stares. When the silence in the room becomes deafening, Hinata breaks it with a light cough. “We’re dating?” He announces it more like a question, holding up both of their hands.

Nobody seems to move, but the expression on their faces make it obvious that they already knew. “You could at least act surprised.” Kageyama deadpans to his team who start shuffling in on them.

“What do you mean act surprised—“ Poor Hinata feels out of the loop but when it clicks he looks up at his teammates with an accusing finger pointed right at them. “You guys knew?!” He shouts like it was the biggest secret in the world. Well, maybe it was to him but they weren’t exactly the best at hiding it.

Tanaka arches a brow before snickering, “Are you serious, Hinata?” He tries not to burst out in laughter right then and there. “We knew from the hickey,” Hinata’s face burned bright red (Kageyama’s too), “did you really think we believed that your little sister gave you a bruise the size of a mouth?”

Hinata sputters and it’s like the awkward tension in the room is no more, the rest of his team joining in on the teasing and the congratulations.

He makes a mental note to become a better liar.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope the ending didn’t seem rushed!! i worked on this fic over the course of three days so I was kind of getting sick of looking at it lmao so i apologize for any spelling mistakes or errors, i promise i will fix them!! ;^^


End file.
